My Time in SAO
by ThatOneGuy8700
Summary: The story of the original struggle of Sword Art Online, retold through the eyes of a disenfranchised young player named Dominic.
1. Chapter 1

Robert Williams

My time in SAO

Chapter 1

 **November 6** **th** **, 2022, Town of Beginnings, Aincrad**

"Thanks. Have a nice day." I said to the desk clerk as I was handed the Nerve Gear rig, and made my way past the rest of the line, and out the door. It was November 6th, 2022, the official launch of the first ever VRMMORPG (Virtual, Reality, Massively, Multiplayer, Online, Role, Playing, Game), Sword Art Online, and I was gonna be one of the 10.000 "hard-copy-players".

I went home to my mother, grandparents, two dogs, and parakeet. I said hello to everyone, relaxed for a bit, then set up my Nerve Gear rig in preparation to play the new game. It was a small purple helmet with cords attached that almost looked like something Biggs Darklighter would use.

I plugged it in, put it on, and it prompted me to pat myself all over with my hands. It was a little weird at first, but I complied. Anything for escapism, am I right? Then I realized what was on the visor display in the rig: a digital clock displaying the current time in my time zone, a battery symbol saying it was at full power, and a text box instructing me to shout loud enough for the sensors to hear: link start!

I finished the scan, lied on my back as if ready to sleep, closed my eyes, and followed the prompt. _"Link start!"_

Then, I didn't know it yet, but everything changed. The routine boot-up sequence occurred, asking me to log in, set my preferences, and get ready. Then a stream of colors flew past me, and I felt like I actually was asleep.

With a start, I woke up to find myself standing on a street corner. I looked around, and I couldn't believe I was in a game. Everything was so detailed. I was in The Town of Beginnings, the first town on the first of the games 100 play floors. All 100 floors are contained in the games floating world, called Aincrad. I, as well as many others, had read up on the games creator, Akihiko Kayaba. The man was an absolute genius, and it showed.

The town of beginnings was amazing. Civilized, medieval architecture with NPC run markets and busy streets. I could tell it was either mid-day, or sunset. I couldn't see the sun in the sky, but either way, it was golden bright out. A perfect time to log in to such a beautiful world. I knew a little about how these games usually worked, and had read up on the gameplay. You know? The menus, and character leveling and stuff?

So I reached my right arm out, and arranged my fingers into the knife-hand position, swiping down to open my player menu. Five icons appeared in front of me. **Stats and inventory, social, messaging, quest log and maps, and settings.** Apparently, the games item store gave info manuals out for free, and I thought there might be some useful information in them. I looked in my item storage under stats and inventory, and it was empty.

 _Huh,_ I thought. _Maybe someone'll be handing them out. Like an NPC or something._ I looked at my stats, and saw I hadn't done anything yet. I was still level 1. I realized there were probably still a couple of hours left before the last few players within the 10.000 limit logged in.

I headed for one of the market stalls to buy some base-level items with the 2.000 coal the game gives everyone to start out with. I've always thought it was a little odd that the games only currency was coal, instead of gold coins or something.

Anyway, I used a few hundred coal to buy: 5 health potions, 4 armor pieces, 3 golden rings, 2 brand new swords, and a familiar training skill. I was all set. Something else I didn't get about this game though, was that most fantasy MMORPGs of the type used magic, like spells and stuff, and this one didn't. Bold move.

I made my way into the fields outside of town to find something to fight. Maybe build up a couple of my sword skills. See, if you're not familiar MMO skill systems, the more you or your character ventures around and does things, the more skills you unlock and upgrade. You can upgrade a skill by practicing it increasingly.

I headed out of town, and instantly noticed that the bottom-level enemy is a normally passive tusked boar. Passive means it won't attack you, unless you bother it first. I saw a couple other players doing about the same thing I was a few yards away.

The status icon above its head shone green, meaning it was safe to be around. I pulled down my menu again, went into stats and inventory, and pulled out one of my new swords. _"Basic Broadsword. Item lvl 3."_ I alsoput on some of my new armor in case the boars attacks were tough for level 1 players. I walked up to one, and found it calmly eating some grass without a care in the world.

"Ok porky, I'm hungry for some bacon." I said to the groveling beast. I readied my sword, and ran towards the boar. I was later to find out that if your sword isn't glowing a certain color, you haven't activated a sword skill, and the attack will be unsuccessful. Guess what.

Once my sword made contact with the boars skin, the boars status icon changed from green to red, and its HP hadn't dropped one bit. I had run, so I was now in front of it. It reared up, and bucked me from behind, in the behind. This game just kept surprising me, as, yes I was sent flying into the air and landed a few feet away. But I didn't feel any pain. I looked at my HP bar, and it hadn't dropped, so I guessed the armor I'd put on was working.

Suddenly, I saw a red prompt appear in front of me, like in the menu. _External disturbance: "Get up, you need to wash the dishes." Would you like to log out?_ I was presented with a blue yes button, and a red no button. I had to press yes to avoid a confrontation when I eventually did log out.

Everything disappeared, and I felt groggy, as if waking up from a pleasant dream. I opened my eyes to see my mother sitting on the edge of my bed. "Hey." She said, and I groaned, like I really had been asleep.

"Yeah, I'll be out 'n a sec'." I told her. I took the Nerve Gear off, and sat up. _Was it just a dream? It feels like it._ I thought to myself. _It couldn't've been._ I concluded, and got up, to go to the kitchen. My dog, Chestnut, was waiting on the floor for me, wagging his cute little tail. I reached my hand down to pat his head, then walked out into the hallway, then into the kitchen. My mother and I chatted while we washed and put away the dishes to dry. We had a dish washer, but it was broken and we hadn't gotten around to buying a new one, so we used it as a drying rack.

Once we were done, I headed right back to my room and put the Nerve Gear back on. And there I was again, in Aincrad. But, I wasn't in the fields with the boars. I was in the Town of Beginnings' coliseum, among a crowd of people. Everyone was murmuring and talking to each other, and other players were teleporting from all over Floor 1. I was very confused, but just assumed the 10.000 limit had been hit, and that this was part of the opening ceremony.

Once it seemed like the teleports had stopped, a red prompt appeared in the sky above the coliseum. It said, **WARNING!** __More popped up around it, saying either that, or **SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!** They cascaded down to the top of the building until the beautiful golden sky was blotted out, and turned blood red. Then, some kind of deep red ooze seeped through between the prompts. It didn't fall on anyone though, it sort of pooled above us. And formed a giant, robed figure, hood shrouding face.

"Attention players." He said, raising his arms as if to say _this much_. "Welcome to my world." Now that shocked everyone. I heard someone close by ask himself,

"What's he mean by that?"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world." It was the GM. The big guy, the boss, the games creator. Another round of murmuring came from the crowd as we tried to process the information.

"I'm sure that most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus: the log out button." He said. Then he opened his menu to show us. I couldn't believe it. I opened my menu, and there it wasn't. Then I remembered that the log out button had been the only way to wake up from using the Nerve Gear. No emergency escape, nothing. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game." Well, that puts the bug theory to rest. "I repeat: this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." _What? You mean you meant to trap us all in here?_ I thought about shouting.

"You cannot log your selves out of SAO, and no one from the outside world will be able to shut down, or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a micro transmitter inside the machine will send a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life." This is when I really started to panic. I had school, a part-time job, and friends. I had to log back out at some point. But I realized he wasn't lying because I had checked out the Nerve Gears mechanics before-hand, and it did emit microwave signals. Turn off the safety, and it would fry your brain.

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some the players of SAO have decided to remove their Nerve Gear rigs. An unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 fewer players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad, and the real world." Right on cue, floating screens like the player menu displaying live news coverage and feeds appeared around him. "As you can see, international media outlets have 'round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a Nerve Gear being removed is minimal, at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important you remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to 0, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." The news feeds disappeared from around him now. "And the Nerve Gear, will simultaneously destroy your brain." Now, a few of us faced the shocking image of dying at the tusks of a boar outside. "There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now, you are gathered on floor 1, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can find the dungeon, and defeat the boss, you will advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game. Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Feel free to take a look." I opened my item storage and saw an item labeled _mirror_ there. I took it out, and noticed everyone else doing the same.

Suddenly, everyone was enveloped in a bright blue light, as if they were teleporting. And with a flash, we all looked different. More realistic. Then, I looked in the mirror, and saw my real face. _So that's what that does._ I thought.

"What's the point? Why would anyone do this to us?" I heard someone ask. I turned my head toward him, and his friend pointed up at Kayaba.

"I think he's about to tell us."

Right on cue, Kayaba spoke. "Right now, you're probably wondering: why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, and Nerve Gear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." With that, the hooded figure dissolved, and the sky above returned to its former golden beauty.

 _ **To Be Continued…?**_


	2. Chapter 2

Robert Williams

My Time in SAO

Ch. 2

 **December 12, 2022. 2** **nd** **town, floor 1, Aincrad.**

"Thanks. Have a nice day." I told the NPC as I left her stall with a full inventory. It'd been almost a week since Kayaba locked us all in SAO, and another couple hundred players had died of various causes since. I was doing what I normally would in a game like this: leveling up as high as I could, and trying to find the dungeon. If anyone else found it, I would know. As the industrious players had already started an in-game newsletter: The Aincrad Times. (Original, right?)

I still couldn't believe I was inside a video game. Six days and I still hadn't gotten that through my thick skull. I'd been scanning the map of floor 1, and found that not that many players had migrated to the next town yet, meaning all of the easily accessible quest rewards and XP in the Town of Beginnings were soon to be cleaned out, and I had to leave.

The path between towns was treacherous, as higher level floor 1 monsters lurked around every corner. Not only that, but I also ran the risk of bumping into other players, and feeling obligated to either fight, or join a guild. I had to be careful. See, if you didn't already get the hint, I can't play nice with the other kids. I'll either come off as brash, arrogant, and someone that seems to be stalked by trouble, or I'll manage, but accidentally get the group into a situation way over their heads, and get them all killed. Two very unappealing scenarios.

I had to leave on foot, since another thing Kayaba had excluded from this game was mounts. I walked through the gateway exit to the Town of Beginnings with not a care in the world but my own hide. And that was another thing, soon to change.

I had all of my good armor on, and was ready with my good sword at a moment's notice. As I made my way down the first few steps of the path out of the gateway, I saw something out in the fields. It looked like a herd of boars circled around something. I'm an overly curious person, so I investigated. I walked over to the strange sight as a player came into view in the middle of the herd. He seemed to be fighting them, and slaughtering them very easily, but he was caught in a spawn web. I figured I'd help out, and be on my way.

As I came closer, I could see he was tall, dark-haired, wearing full-black clothing. He was slashing left and right, so I could only just barely make out: RaVenRogue on his name tag. _What an odd name._ I thought to myself. I thought about how to disable a spawn web, and it came to me that the only way to do it, is to defeat twenty of its enemies, within thirty seconds. When I finally came close enough I shouted, "What's with the name?", and stated hacking away at the boars with my Basic Broadsword.

"Why do you need to know?" He asked between grunts. I compared our player levels, and knew we had this in the bag.

"Eh," I started. "I don't know. Just overly curious I guess. Hey, how 'bout we cut a deal? You tell me how you picked your avatar name, and I help you get rid of these boars. Deal?" I proposed. He kept hacking away, but shot me a skeptic glance every once in a while.

"Fine. I'm really into playing the rogue class in other MMORPGs, and I really like ravens. That good enough for you?" He asked?

"Yep. See, we're caught in what's called a spawn web. It's something Kayaba cooked up himself as a new AI mechanic just for this game. Spawn webs are placed at various specific coordinate sets throughout the game. Once you come close to those coords, a low-level enemy indigenous to your current surroundings begins to spawn in large numbers to surround you. The only way to disable one, is to kill twenty of its enemies, within thirty seconds." I explained.

We stopped, looked each other right in the eye, and nodded. Then we went back to slashing. We hadn't really noticed before, but each time one of us killed a boar, a red, thirty-second timer on our HUD, (Heads, Up, Display) would start ticking downwards, while a "20" counter counted down.

 _One, two, three…_ I kept up with my HUD, while keeping a close eye on Rogue. Once we had put a plan into action, we were done in an instant.

Once we had dispatched the last of the boars, we took a minute to relax, and then, he invited me to be in a party with him. I was presented, once again, with a blue yes button, land red no button.

"Oh no. I've got my goals, and you've got yours. I plan on leaving the Town of Beginnings…" Suddenly, I was cut off. I guess he likes doing that.

"So do I. You and I team up, and we'll go places. Just trust me. There is so much in this game that a solo player just can't do. Join me, and together we will Aincrad as partner and partner." He explained.

"Really? I prefer to be alone, number one. Number two, I really doubt we'll be able to rule this place so soon. And number three, I can spot where that quote came from from a mile away." I said, folding my arms and giving him a look of disappointment and skepticism.

"Hey, c'mon. I just want to get out of this game as quick as possible. I still don't understand why Kayaba did this to us." He digressed. I thought for a moment, then put my arms down and came over to him. I put a hand on his shoulder and said,

"Well because it was good sport. Because some men, aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bargained, reasoned, or negotiated with. Because some men, just want to watch the world burn." I explained, albeit in an old Irish tuxedo voice.

"That's a quote from somewhere too, I can't place it." He said, rubbing his chin and looking up at the sky.

"I'll tell you later. C'mon. The next town shouldn't be that long a hike from here." I said, putting an arm around his neck, and walking down the path. The sky was the same golden hue it had been the day we arrived, and it was beautiful. I really appreciated that texture. We walked our way to the next town with pleasure, exchanging stories, laughs, and eventually friend requests in the process.

 **To Be continued…?**


	3. Chapter 3

Robert Williams

My Time in SAO

Chapter 3

(Note: Last chapter, the date was November, 12th. Not December, 12th. Just to avoid confusion)

 **December 6** **th** **, 2022, Town 5, Floor 1, Aincrad.**

It'd been a whole month by now. A total of two thousand players had died in what was slowly becoming known as the death game. By this point 'Rogue and I had pushed our player levels as high as they could go on Floor 1, and were sick of hearing that no one had found the boss room yet. Thankfully, the Aincrad Times newsletter had come up with a very interesting headline that morning. "Top player meeting: How to find/defeat Floor 1 Boss!" _How convenient._ I thought to myself, and told 'Rogue about it.

The meeting was to be held in a small, open-top theater, in the fifth town, at high noon. It wasn't that far from where he and I were 'stationed', but we still had to be quick. Once we got there, it looked like the place was already full, so we just hung back in the shadows, yet still within earshot. There was a tallish man with long, straight blue hair, and mid-level gear standing on the theater floor, while everyone else was seated together in various groups ready for the briefing.

After a few minutes, the speaker clapped his hands twice, and began his spiel. "Ok people. Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming, good to see you. My name is Diabel, [Dee – aww – bell] and in this game, the job I rolled is knight."

There was a round of snickering and laughing from the crowd, and someone on the bottom row shouted, "Dude, there's no job system in this game!"

He resented that remark, as well as all the snickers, and continued on. "You guys want to hear this or not?" He asked, and everyone quieted down. Suddenly, Diabel's smile was gone, and a cold chill filled the air. "Right, so anyway here's the deal: Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." Everyone was shocked, and began talking again for a brief moment. "First, we need to defeat the boss, and make it to Floor 2. The next step is, we need to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings, that it _is_ possible to beat this game! Fact is: It's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree, or not?" He asked, and another round of murmuring came from the crowd, as well as most everyone nodding yes in agreement. Then, a long round of clapping, whistling, and cat-calls came from the crowd.

"Ok, glad to hear you're all with me on this. Now, let's figure out how we're gonna beat the boss. First off: we'll team up into parties of six." He said, "A typical party won't stand a chance against the boss. We need a raid group, made up of multiple parties."

'Rogue and I looked at each other. "Do you think it's ok with him, if we just stick to us?" We asked in unison, and then chuckled a bit.

"It seems ok for those two. I said, directing his attention towards a couple up on the higher steps. They seemed to be getting along quite nicely, and didn't look to be worrying about anyone but themselves.

"Alright," Said Diabel again after a couple of social minutes had passed. "Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-"He was suddenly cut off by another voice from the top of the theater steps.

"Hold up a sec." Came the voice, and a male player with spiked ginger hair came bounding down the midway until he stood facing Diabel. "My name's Kipau, [Ki – pow] got that?" He asked. "Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the two thousand people who've died so far, yeah? Well some of you need to apologize to 'em right now!" He said, pointing a finger at his audience.

Diabel spoke up again. "Kipau, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the one's who're ex-beta-testers, right."

Kipau sounded offended when he shouted, "'Course I mean them! The day this stupid game started, the beta-guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too. They were the only ones gettin' stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we're nothin'. Hell, I bet there's some of 'em here!" He accused, once again waving a fist at the audience. "Come on out beta testers! We should make 'em apologize to us. And we should make 'em all give up their money, and the items they got!" He proclaimed, before folding his arms and stating, "They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us. Why should we?"

I looked around, and from where I stood, quite a few people were sweating a little too hard. About to snap, I'd say. But then, someone else spoke up, a taller, bald black man, seated in the middle of the audience. "Can I say somethin'?" He asked, before being the third person down on the stage. When he came down to face Kipau, I could tell the ginger was intimidated by his larger size and stature.

"Hey, my name's Agiel. [Egg – ee – ell] Kipau, right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta-testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help 'em, and you want to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?" He asked.

"No, you didn't." Kipau said, once again feeling offended. Agiel reached his left hand into his pocket, - his elbow coming dangerously close to the battle-axe, openly swung around his shoulders – and pulled out an easily recognizable, small, brown hard-cover info book.

"The item store hands these out for free." He explained, showing it plain as day to Kipau. "It's a guide book. You got one, didn't you?" He inquired.

"Sure I got one. So what about it?" Kipau asked curiously.

"You know who was handing these out?" Agiel questioned. "The ex-beta-testers, that's who." He paused for a second, then turned around to the audience. "Listen up. Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. Now I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here cause I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're gonna beat the boss." With that, Agiel, turned back around to face Kipau, who gave him a disapproving look, then plopped his sorry behind on a step, folding his arms and looking defeated.

Once Agiel too, had sat back down, Diabel started back up again. "Ok. Can we get back to the meeting now?" He asked, and received another round of nods in agreement. "For info on the boss, it's all in here." He said, holding up his copy of the guide book. "The latest issue of the guide book you just heard about." He flipped to the middle of the book for reference. "According to the book, the bosses name is: Eilfang [Ill – fang] the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions: the Ruined Kobold Sentinels. Eilfang carries an axe, and a buckler." (A buckler, if you're wondering, is a roundish, shield type item that can be used offensively, as well as defensively.) "He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved, sword type weapon, called a Tulwar. He can change his patterns of attack too."

He closed his guide book. "That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss, gets the XP. And, whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections?" Thankfully, none came up. "Good! We leave tomorrow, at ten in the morning. Meeting adjourned, people!" At that, some people stood up to go, whilst others sat and discussed strategies, and the three speakers in particular were discussing apologies amongst each other as far as I could tell.

'Rogue and I just nodded to each other, and walked off, ready for lunch. We found ourselves at a small, NPC-run café in the heart of town.

"So," I said as we started chowing down on some expensive, K-class food. "You ready for the boss tomorrow?" I asked as we were already half way through an otherwise silent meal.

"Yup." He stated bluntly before taking another bite. "I mean, we've done everything we can on this floor. It's only logical that our next move will be to advance." He finally said.

"Alright Spock, finish your food and let's go." I said, after chuckling again for a brief moment. We ate our food rather quickly after that, then headed back to what we were temporarily calling our home in the seventh town, until the boss was cleared, and we could move on.

 _ **To Be Continued …?**_


End file.
